n FinTech Focus

“Regulators don’t havethat sort of mandate or themanpower to do it but theyare keen to open up dia-logue and they are thinkingabout the possibility of asandbox so thinks are mov-ing along.”It seems like now isan exciting time to beinvolved in Swiss Fin Tech,or indeed Fin Tech aroundthe world which seemsmore in demand than everbefore. Aside from the ini-tiatives mentioned above,there is also a “cryptohub”in Zug which allowedfirms setting up there topay their fees in Bitcoin.

There are also plentyof opportunities to beexplored at Sibos and youcan check out page XX fora full list of all the relevantdiscussion sessions takingplace this year. Howeverthe real test will comewhen Sibos has packedup and gone whether thestart-ups, finance compa-nies, politicians and regula-tors can all come togetherto build on everything thatbeen achieved and makeSwiss Fin Tech as success-ful as its existing financialpowerhouses. ninnotribe and we expectthere will be over 300 peo-ple attending.”

Developing Reg Tech

While for this week at least,
Sibos will be the centre of
every Swiss Fin Tech company’s universe, what matters more in the long-term
is how the regulatory and
political environment in
Switzerland develops.

“In contrast to the UKor Singapore, where gov-ernments have been verysupportive of Fin Tech, theSwiss government has tra-ditionally been quite hands-off,” said Hucker. “We alsodon’t have the same lobby-ing infrastructure so effortshave been very much ondeveloping the grass roots.”However, Hucker saysregulators and Parliamentare listening and workingon policy that should helpmake it easier for new tech-nology start-ups to get offthe ground.

The UK’s regulator,
the Financial Conduct
Authority, is often cited as
one of the most forward
thinking on Fin Tech and
runs an initiative, called
Project Innovate, which
provides a regulatory sandbox for Fin Tech start-ups.

“We’d love to see some-thing similar to what UK“It’s as if the stars havealigned for us, Sibos is aworld class event and offersunparalleled networkingopportunities for our start-ups with ever senior execu-tive in the industry attend-ing,” he said.

“Trying to go out allover the world and set upone-to-one interviews withkey people would simply betoo expensive for start-ups,but they’re all coming toGeneva in September andwe’re setting up a series ofmeetings and events forthem to be able to presentwhat they’re doing to seniorpeople at the banks.”Hucker agrees that Sibosis likely to be a crucial eventin Switzerland’s Fin Techdevelopment.

“Sibos is one of those
landmark events that is
extremely important for
any financial technology
companies trying to boost
their development. In particular the innotribe group,
which we’ve been closely
involved with, is great for
Fin Tech companies,” he
explains.

“Throughout the week
we’ll be providing special
conference booths for firms
that want to set up meetings and on Wednesday
we’ll be co-hosting a
networking event with